Notwithstanding the annual rebuttal by the South African government delegation, wishing us away, we are back here to draw the attention of this Minority Forum to the alarming increase in and the continuous brutal murders of farmers and farm workers, in the privacy of their farms, taking place in our country since 1994, without the necessary protection and/or prohibitive measures in place within our Criminal Justice System.

We have no option but to internationalise the violence and atrocities directed at and targeting a strategic minority community enterprise responsible not only for food security, but - which contributes considerably to job creation, economic growth and the prosperity of the entire South African nation.

The urgent attention of this august body is called for in the light of:

• Various commissions and committees of enquiries, plans and strategies, acknowledgements and commitments from the South African authorities having come to nothing;

• An unacceptably high total of 1775 farm murders have been committed from 1990 to date – figures privately kept by TAUSA and Instiutute for Security Studies in the absence of official government statistics;

• The overall annual murder rate in SA now stands at 17857 of which only 23.8% are brought to conviction – this proves how the Criminal Justice System fails the victims;

• The comparative international murder figures showing an average of 7 murders per 100 000 people per year whereas South Africa registers 32 per 100 000 – but, if projected to specific categories it reflects 54 per 100 000 for police officers and a staggering 133 per 100 000 for farmers and farm workers;

• The Criminal Justice System in South Africa has failed its own promise to put in place a proposed Area Crime Combatting Unit or Sector Policing System to replace the abolished highly successful Commando-protection-system; and

• The decision by the policing authority, not to release these facts and figures related to farm murders since 2007, as a separate category, serves as an indictment against their clear neglect to protect this particular minority entity.

Therefore, we, the Freedom Front Plus of South Africa, together with other registered South African participants at this Forum –

Request this 8th Forum on Minority Issues to share and adopt our grave concerns, and - to refer this matter to the Human Rights Commission and the Secretary General of the United Nations for its own investigation into this continuous cruel and violent practice committed with brutal force, and - often extreme torture, against the South African farming fraternity.

I sincerely hope that the panel who introduced this item will take the trouble to take this matter on board and pay SA a visit to inform themselves!